The Hubble Palette - The effect of
Image Processing

Combining images from narrowband
filters is often done using the Hubble tricolor palette, in which
SII, Ha, and
OIII are assigned to R, G, and
B, respectively. These images were taken in
October 2005 using a scope in New Mexico with an exposure of 5 x 5 minutes per
filter using a Takahashi Sky 90 with a SBIG ST-10MXE.

As can be seen the extent of any
subsequent image processing makes a lot of difference to the final appearance
of the image. The three images were, in order, unprocessed, digitally developed
using MaxIm DL and digitally developed then stretched in MaxIm
DL.